“The fight for clean air and clean water for all people, especially communities historically burdened by environmental harm, is one of the great Civil Rights fights of the 21st century,” writes Moms’ Director of Strategic Implementation and Justice Stephanie Reese in a just-published op-ed for The New Lede.
Stephanie addresses the recent historic announcement that the city of Tulsa will provide reparations to the survivors and descendants of the 1921 Race Massacre there, which fills her “with a mix of relief and hope but also lingering doubt.” She attributes the doubt to the fact that “freedom, in this great country, has always been unevenly granted, and too often delayed. Indeed, in many communities—especially communities of color—access to rights that many people today take for granted haven’t always been guaranteed.”
Considering today is Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery and is a celebration of the right to be free, safe, healthy, and treated with dignity, Stephanie notes, “for far too many, those rights are still being trampled upon,” and offers a glaring example: “the right to breathe clean air, to drink safe water, and to live in communities that aren’t drowning in pollution or ignored in policy decisions is still a long-sought dream.”
Tell Congress: Defend EPA’s Ability to Protect Human Health and the Environment
She goes on to connect the dots between Juneteenth, the massive rollbacks currently happening at EPA, and the recognition of freedom, liberty, and justice. “For decades, EPA standards addressed serious environmental threats that impact all of us, from air pollution to the spread of toxic chemicals and the dangerous greenhouse gases that have led to the alarming warming of our planet. Its work made it abundantly clear that protecting the public’s health—everyone’s health—matters.”
No longer, as now many of these protections are on the chopping block. “This signals to certain communities, especially communities of color, that their health and well-being just doesn’t count,” Stephanie writes. Data shows that in the United States, people of color breathe more particulate air pollution on average.
While on the surface, Juneteenth and environmental protections may at first seem unrelated, Stephanie explains with clarity that, “They share something fundamental—they represent hard-fought acknowledgment of systemic harms, and they both underscore the urgent need for a more just, sustainable, and equitable future.”
As Stephanie says, “Justice means we name these patterns, and we work to dismantle them. Protecting our most vulnerable communities and honoring Juneteenth are not separate fights. They are deeply connected. At their core, they both demand the same thing, recognition of our rights as individuals to freedom, including the freedom to live with dignity, health and justice.”
Tell Congress: Defend EPA’s Ability to Protect Human Health and the Environment